Changes to College Uniform for September 2017

Dear Parents and Carers

Re: Changes to College Uniform for September 2017

As you might remember I wrote to you some time ago regarding a review of our College uniform agreed by our College’s Governing Body. In the intervening period we have consulted with students about their preferences and following this consultation have taken a proposal back to the Governing Body who have passed a resolution to support a new uniform for September 2017.

What about Year 11 in September 2017?

One of the concerns expressed by parents was that they felt expecting parents to purchase a new uniform, particularly a blazer or jumper, for one year i.e. Year 11, when these items often lasted two years, was an unwarranted expense. In response to this Governors have supported the proposal that the existing uniform expectations are not changed for September’s Year 11.

The new uniform requirements will only apply in September to Years 7 to 10.

What about the cost of replacing larger items e.g. blazer?

Governors are aware of the possible unexpected additional expense in replacing items over and above those that parents might normally expect to be replacing annually. In response to this we have been able to identify monies, secured during our academy conversion, that we can utilise to support this change.

As a result I am pleased to be able to inform you that the College will be able to supply the following items at no cost to parents or carers:

For boys in Years 7 to 10 in September 2017 – a new St Mary’s College blazer and a badged St Mary’s College jumper

For girls in Years 7 to 10 in September 2017 – a new St Mary’s College blazer and a new St Mary’s College skirt

NB The new St Mary’s College blazers are year group specific, as the badge on the blazer incorporates a feature (the colour of the writing of the college motto “Christ within us all” within the badge) which will replace the year tie as the means of identifying to which year group a child belongs.

Plain black leather or imitation leather shoes with no motifs or bows. Boots, trainers or canvas footwear will not be accepted.

Plain black socks

Images of the new uniform are available on the College website. From the homepage, click on the ‘Students’ tab followed by ‘Uniform and Equipment’.

Are the PE kit and College bags changing as well?

There are no changes to the current PE kits or College bags.

How will we get our new blazers, jumpers and skirts?

The new blazers, jumpers and skirts will be supplied through Wirral Uniform Shop but we will have a designated day in the last week of the summer term for each of the current years 7, 8 and 9 when the supplier will come in and students will be fitted for their blazers, skirts and jumpers. Parents will be invited to attend and take their child’s new St Mary’s College blazers and jumper/skirt home. More detail will follow about the arrangements for these days.

Remaining items of uniform can then be purchased from Wirral Uniform or in the case of more generic items e.g. shirts from other providers, as long as they meet our uniform requirements.

For our new Year 7 it will be part of their Induction Evening.

As I shared in my previous letter, this is the first significant change to the uniform in more than forty years and has been an opportunity to update our uniform and respond to some of the concerns expressed about the current uniform. I am confident our students will wear our uniform with pride and be identified in the local community as a credit to us all.

Cookies

Most websites you visit will use cookies in order to improve your user experience by enabling that website to 'remember' you, either for the duration of your visit (using a 'session cookie') or for repeat visits (using a 'persistent cookie').

Our Cookies

Cookies from this website are set using Google Analytics that allows for anonymous tracking of visiting paterns to the website. Allowing us to improve the content of our website.

Google Analytics sets the following cookies as described in the table below.

Name

Description

Expiration

__utma

This cookie is typically written to the browser upon the first visit to your site from that web browser. If the cookie has been deleted by the browser operator, and the browser subsequently visits your site, a new __utma cookie is written with a different unique ID. This cookie is used to determine unique visitors to your site and it is updated with each page view. Additionally, this cookie is provided with a unique ID that Google Analytics uses to ensure both the validity and accessibility of the cookie as an extra security measure.

2 years from set/update.

__utmb

This cookie is used to establish and continue a user session with your site. When a user views a page on your site, the Google Analytics code attempts to update this cookie. If it does not find the cookie, a new one is written and a new session is established. Each time a user visits a different page on your site, this cookie is updated to expire in 30 minutes, thus continuing a single session for as long as user activity continues within 30-minute intervals. This cookie expires when a user pauses on a page on your site for longer than 30 minutes. You can modify the default length of a user session with the _setSessionCookieTimeout() method.

30 minutes from set/update.

__utmz

This cookie stores the type of referral used by the visitor to reach your site, whether via a direct method, a referring link, a website search, or a campaign such as an ad or an email link. It is used to calculate search engine traffic, ad campaigns and page navigation within your own site. The cookie is updated with each page view to your site.